Education Commons^™

An Examination Of Early Childhood Leadership In Public Elementary Schools: A Mixed Methods Study, Wesam Alshahrani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As state-funded Pre-K programs in elementary schools continue to grow, elementary principals are increasingly responsible for supporting, supervising, and leading these programs. Therefore, examining elementary principals' early childhood leadership competencies and the factors influencing them may help understand and improve their experiences as early childhood education (ECE) leaders. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study examined the ECE leadership of Tennessee public elementary school principals in two phases.

In the quantitative phase, statewide surveys were used to collect data from 67 principals. The survey comprised 51 items assessing nine ECE leadership competencies, synthesized from statements of leading ECE and elementary education …

Benefits Of Early Childhood Education On Later Adult Life, Chelsie N. Jones

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

It has been proven that the first five years of a child’s life are a critical development period, but there are currently no federal mandates requiring families to enroll their children in an Early Childhood Education program before entering kindergarten. There are many benefits for children attending a head start, preschool, or transitional kindergarten program, such as developing social skills and emotional competence, closing academic achievement gaps, and ensuring children are exposed to proper environmental enrichment that supports a range of early skills such as social, cognitive, and executive function skills. But how does early childhood education impact later adult …

Training And Supporting Early Childhood Providers In Inclusive Settings, Kimberly K. Bennett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Early childhood providers care for infants and toddlers with developmental delays and special needs in their programs and classrooms. This study addressed the problem that there is insufficient professional development (PD) training for early childhood providers working with infants and toddlers with special needs in inclusive settings. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand what training early childhood providers report they have had, and what training early childhood providers perceive that they need to support infants and toddlers with special needs in inclusive settings. Using the whole teacher approach as the conceptual framework, the research questions explored …

Beyond The Classroom: A Land-Based Approach To Outdoor Education, Jacquelyn R. Matthews

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This pilot project seeks to nurture space for Indigenous perspectives while equipping early childhood educators with tools for integrating diverse epistemology into outdoor learning practices to foster collaborative educational approaches. To align with this effort of shared knowledge, the project intends to offer a culturally sustaining educational tool that can help disrupt dominant approaches by evaluating alternative teaching strategies that center partnerships with local Indigenous communities to move toward equity-centered education. This can be achieved by modeling a resource guide after the theoretical underpinnings of Etuaptmumk Two-Eyed Seeing, and land-based pedagogy. A major component of this resource guide will include …

Three-Year-Old Agents Of Social Change: How Aeiotu Educators Build On Children’S Agency, Andrea Rodriguez

Honors Projects

aeioTU is a Colombian organization that works to enact social change through the field of early childhood education. In collaboration with the Colombian government, aeioTU oversees several public centers located in socioeconomically vulnerable municipalities in Colombia. This thesis analyzes the aeioTU curriculum and the practices of several aeioTU teachers through the theoretical lens of Freire’s critical pedagogy. This thesis argues that by fostering critical awareness of the world from an early age, as well as by collaborating closely with mothers and the communities at large, aeioTU teachers equip children with the tools to become social agents who can challenge and …

Characteristics Of Award-Winning Children’S Books About Agriculture: An Analysis Of Content, And The Perspectives Of Authors, Illustrators, And Publishers, Addison L. Beckham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this two-article qualitative study was to characterize children's literature about agriculture and to describe the perceptions of authors and illustrators who are responsible for writing and designing these successful publications. This will result in the ability of organizations like Feeding Minds Press to provide writers, illustrators, and publishers with effective strategies and techniques to improve the accuracy and overall quality of children’s literature about agriculture. Few parameters exist for authors of children’s books about agriculture (Biser, 2007). These parameters are necessary to ensure the quality and accuracy of these educational efforts (Serafini, 2012). Though Feeding Minds Press …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Perceptions Of Inclusive Preschool Education Through The Lens Of Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Educators., Brooke Noon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Young children with special needs have been educated in early childhood settings with typically developing peers for over 40 years. Successful educational inclusion in the least restrictive environment requires appropriate aids and supports (Individuals with Disabilities Act, 2004). Although researchers have studied many aspects of special education, little investigation has been conducted on the perspectives of dual certified interdisciplinary early childhood educator’s (IECE) perceptions on full inclusion in preschool. This study was designed to examine the connection between the perceptions of IECE teacher’s experiences as a dual certified educator in preschool. In total, 10 IECE teachers were interviewed and completed …

Mindfulness As An Emotional Well-Being Tool For Beginning Teachers, Brittany Crumley

All Dissertations

Today’s early educators are responsible for providing a stimulating learning environment to facilitate student academic outcomes, in addition to providing a positive emotional climate to support student social-emotional functioning. Early childhood educators engage with various physical and emotional stressors throughout the workday (e.g., disruptive behaviors, standardized assessment), and to be effective, they must be able to cope with their own emotional reactivity. Teacher experiences of work stress may lead to decreased performance, burnout, and poor student outcomes, creating serious concerns for the education environment. One transferable strategy to help teachers’ emotional well-being is mindfulness self-care (e.g., breathing practices), which can …

An Exploration Of Leadership And Management Challenges Among Center-Based Early Childhood Education Directors, Yeni Portillo-Lemus

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

Managing early childhood education (ECE) programs is intricate, with directors facing challenges in organizational leadership, business management, and meeting pedagogical standards. Early childhood education directors are vital as they play a crucial role in ensuring quality education and care. Despite the importance, research on leadership and management, especially through a gender lens, is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to explore the leadership and management challenges Los Angeles County based, private-for-profit, single-center early childhood education directors experience in their leadership and management roles. Six participants who self-identified as ECE directors completed semi-structured interviews over Zoom. These …

Variations In Family Child Care: Providers' Experiences Crafting Spaces In-Between School And Home, Eleanor Luken

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Family child care, which takes place in the caregiver’s own home, is one of the most common arrangements for American working parents, yet it remains low paid and undervalued in the ecosystem of early childhood care and education (Uttal and Tuominen, 1999). Little is known about how family child care providers organize space within their homes and the repercussions the location of care has on their daily practices with children, relationships with family members, and design of their homes. Even less is known about the strategies used by providers operating in dense, urban neighborhoods with high housing costs. This investigation …

Considerations When Developing An Indigenous Early Learning And Child Care Outcomes Framework Within Canada: A Collaboration Between A White Settler And Ojibway/Oneida Knowledge Keeper, Bronwyn Johns

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research contributes to the scholarship on evaluation and assessment within early learning and child care (ELCC) environments. The research was carried out in collaboration with the leaders of an Indigenous ELCC centre, an Ojibway/Oneida Knowledge Keeper, co-supervisors with the Faculty of Education at Western University, and funding partners Mitacs and a municipal funder. The collaboration took place within Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The dissertation is a diffractive analysis that involved reading texts multiple times, focusing on differences that matter while not ignoring relevant similarities. The methodology was also informed by the Ojibway/Oneida Knowledge Keeper who collaborated with the researcher by …

Identity, Access, And Equity: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study Of Mathematics Identity And Socialization In Pre-Service Teachers, Ashley Renaire Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Teaching practices in early childhood through post-secondary learning settings continue to reproduce inequities in mathematics education despite recognition of math’s utility and its necessity for competitiveness in the global economy. For reform efforts to be successful, teachers must change the way mathematics is presented in classrooms where students often experience differences in exposure to mathematics content and time spent covering particular mathematics topics. Therefore, teachers represent a critical component in the cycle of reproduction of unequal access to mathematics. This mixed-methods study examined the processes of mathematics identity formation and mathematics socialization in a diverse sample of pre-service elementary and …

Student-Led Conferences In The Early Childhood Classroom, Lizzie Van Wyk

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research project investigated the relationship between student-led conferencing and parent involvement and satisfaction. Student-led conferences were held in four early childhood classrooms in Michigan, in the hopes that parent involvement and satisfaction would increase. A fifth classroom implemented traditional parent-teacher conferences. A parent satisfaction survey was created to measure parent understanding of their student’s academic performance, parent satisfaction, and parent plans for future attendance of conferences. The results indicate that while student-led conferences may impact parent communication and involvement in the classroom, there is not a direct correlation between parent satisfaction and student-led conferences.

The Effects Of Work Plans On Independence In A Primary Montessori Classroom, Cynthia Narine

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This action research project aimed to examine the effects introducing picture-based work plans would have on independence in a Primary Montessori classroom. The intervention took place over seven weeks and involved a middle-class suburban classroom with 25 children ages three to six-years old. Data was collected through the use of tally sheets which recorded the number of times children asked for suggestions; tables which recorded the number of children engaged in meaningful work; an observation log for observations taken globally; and a field journal which recorded the researcher’s thoughts, questions, and other observations at the time. The data showed a …

Play-Based Pedagogies In Saudi Kindergartens: Examining Teachers’ Perceptions And Practices, Manal O. Alharbi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I explored three Saudi kindergarten teachers’ play-based pedagogies. I conducted a qualitative case study (Stake, 1994) in order to examine these teachers’ perceptions of play and describe the ways they incorporated play into their classrooms. My research questions were: How do three Saudi kindergarten teachers perceive play-based learning? In what ways do three Saudi kindergarten teachers implement play-based learning? Participants taught kindergarten in a large private school that served early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school students in Saudi Arabia. Classroom observations and interviews with the teachers were the central data sources. To analyze the data, I …

Exploring Attitudes Of Four Groups Of Stakeholders Toward Family Childcare And Recommending Best Practices To Promote Positive Experiences, Yvonne S. Williams

Dissertations

This research aimed to increase the awareness of licensed family childcare programs and use the viewpoints of four stakeholder groups to construct recommended best practices. These best practices are crucial for supporting effective business practices and providing high-quality services to their stakeholders. Online surveys and virtual interviews were used to acquire the stakeholders' perspectives. The collected data revealed three principal thematic codes: family childcare provider, family childcare business, and family childcare environment. Within these three codes, the family childcare program's areas of improvement, inconsistencies, and strengths were identified and evaluated to construct recommended professional and business best practices. Some of …

Professional Development Impact On Quality Interactions In Home-Based Early Childhood Settings, Theresa Peplinski

Graduate Teacher Education

Recent literature was examined to explore the relationship between professional development and quality interactions in home-based early childhood settings. Home-based child care was identified as a setting preferred by parents (Melvin et al., 2022). However, the educators in these settings often worked alone, worked long hours, and were less likely to have a degree than educators in other early childhood settings (Durden et al., 2016). The understanding of what constituted quality in these under-recognized settings was more challenging to quantify and less studied than quality in other early education settings (Han et al., 2021). A thorough literature review was conducted, …

Balancing Free Play And Structured Learning Opportunities In Early Childhood Education Classrooms: Contrasting Perceptions Of Teachers And Researchers, Logan Mentzer

University Honors Theses

This study explored how early childhood education classrooms can provide a balance of learning opportunities that are both initiated by the child and facilitated by the teacher. Three transitional/preschool teachers were interviewed along with two researchers who study preschool/kindergarten classrooms. The results of this study found four strategies that are used in early childhood education classes that allow both child exploration and adult facilitation: 1) creating close teacher-child relationships; 2) creating close lead-assistant teacher relationships; 3) using both mental and physical planning; 4) using guided questions to teach. There were interesting differences in contrasting perspectives of early childhood education teachers …

Focusing On Grace And Courtesy In The Hopes Of Achieving A More Peaceful Classroom Community, Marshetta Davis

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

Children are at risk of becoming adults who are unable to live, work and thrive together within communities across the United States of America due to lack of respect for themselves, other humans and things in the world which goes along with social courtesies. The researcher was an early childhood education teacher who holds a Montessori certification. For six weeks, the participants in the study were able to focus on Grace and Courtesy lessons in which they participated by observing the teacher modeling care of self, care of others, and care of things with careful attention with, mindful movement, and …

Creative Common Worlding With Research Creation In Early Childhood Education, Sarah M. Hennessy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Creative Common worlding with research-creation in early childhood education engages with provocations that disrupt dominant understandings of children and their relations with more-than-human and human others. Reconceptualizing alternatives through art, this dissertation contemplates the potent possibilities beyond human stewardship, underscores the influence of an uncommoning lens, and emphasizes the difficulties with humancentric notions of research. If, by disrupting how we understand ourselves and our role in place, we modify our actions and change our habits, then perhaps we can live differently and contribute differently to the planet. Through a common worlds framework together with research-creation, this dissertation considers climate education …

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, How Should We Read: Applying Principles Of Literacy Development To Shared Book-Reading Experiences, Kalika Melody Burnett Bridwell

Senior Theses

Literacy has long been recognized as critical to success in and out of the classroom (Duchouquette, 2014; Hernandez, 2011; National Center for Family Literacy, 2008), having significant impact on students’ ability to achieve positive outcomes in academic, professional, social, and personal domains. Research suggests that this correlation is established at an early age (Cunningham & Zibulsky, 2011, Storch & Whitehurst, 2002, National Center for Family Literacy, 2008), giving urgency to the provision of high-quality early literacy education and to the identification of best practices in this area. Outside of explicit teaching, one of the most popular of these practices is …

Teacher Perception Of A Brief Mindfulness-Based Curriculum And Its Impact On The Development Of Social Skills And Self-Regulation On A Preschool Classroom, Allison Poggendorf

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Recent studies on mindfulness and its impact on children have found promising results, especially with social-emotional skill development. A majority of the research on mindfulness applied in educational setting tends to focus on elementary and high school students, and there is limited, but growing research that examines the impact of mindfulness among early childhood students. This current study explored the impact of a brief mindfulness-based curriculum on an intact preschool classroom. Specifically, this study examined if preschool teachers perceive mindfulness practices in the classroom to impact their students’ self-regulation skills and social skills and how likely they were to continue …

A Pedagogy Of Play: How Pre- And In-Service Early Childhood Teachers’ Perceptions Of Play Are Influenced As A Result Of Practicum Experience In A Play-Based Environment, E. B. Nygard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

There is a growing body of research behind the play-based movement in education today – a topic that is somewhat controversial (Nicolopoulou et al., 2010; Overstreet, 2018). While some are steeped in a more classical approach to early education, advocating learning should be painful (Adler & Van Doren, 1988), others are paving the way for a more progressive approach, suggesting play to be the premier window into a child’s development (Paley, 1979-2014; Wohlwend & Peppler, 2015). The purpose of this study was to look at how the perceptions of pre- and in-service teachers changed regarding play and storytelling after participating …

Improving Writing Instruction Through Professional Development, Katherine Irene Miller

Culminating Experience Projects

Educators have many demands placed on them that influences classroom instruction and the amount of time spent on each subject area. Teachers typically spend a large part of the day focusing on reading. However, they are less likely to spend the same amount of time on writing instruction. This project states the importance of writing instruction having an equal amount of time devoted to it as reading and should be taught in coordination with reading. It is important for students to receive quality writing instruction because it is a skill they will need to develop to become successful in post …

Examining The Relationship Between Racial Respect Among Black Early Childhood Professionals And Their Perceptions Of Black Children, Kayla Nembhard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black children are exposed to the highest rates of negative teacher perceptions and punitive consequences. Healthy People 2020 acknowledges the significance of the first five years of child development and the various factors that promote or hinder health outcomes during this time. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of quality relationships between children and their caregivers, including their ECE teachers. Overall, Black children tend to fare better academically when they are able to engage with Black educators and other ECE professionals. However, there is recent evidence Black educators in ECE settings, specifically, also uphold racialized negative perceptions of Black students that …

An Examination Of Early Childhood Teachers’ Perceptions Of Discussing Race With Children, Sarah Elizabeth Kubly

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examines early childhood teachers’ perceptions and practices with regard to talking to young children about race. Through an online survey and an individual interview with two early childhood teachers, I uncovered three findings: a) teachers’ understandings of their students’ racial awareness, b) teachers’ current classroom practices regarding race, culture, ethnicity, and c) challenges teachers faced in talking about race with their students along with possible sources of support. Based on these findings, I concluded that teachers made the decision not to directly confront the issue of race with their students due to feelings of fear and discomfort. …

The Effect Of Antiracist Children’S Literature On Developing Racial Awareness In Early Childhood, Brittany L.M. Ladd

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

In this study, I asked the question, “What effect will antiracist children’s literature have on a white, homeschooled, 5-year-old child’s developing awareness of race and racial issues?” Over the course of four weeks, my child and I read and discussed antiracist children’s literature, and then I recorded my child’s signs of developing racial awareness using qualitative and quantitative data tools. In analysis of this data, I discovered that my child’s developing awareness focused more heavily on race and the understanding of skin tones than on racial issues such as a sense of equality. This finding aligns with early child developmental …

Weaving Child-Plastic Relations In The Ecuadorian Andes, Alexandra M. Berry

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the small Andean town of Racar, Ecuador, plastics are deeply woven into land and culture. Within postqualitative framings, this dissertation puts into conversation research-creation and curriculum-making to invent pedagogical responses to plastics with children and early childhood educators at a local school named Santana. This pedagogical project interferes with prevailing Euro-western visions of the human in education that separate children in the Ecuadorian Andes from their relations with place and plastics. Together we think with material/conceptual contradictions and possibilities proposed through Andean weaving techniques as minor, but important, entry points to figuring the child within increasingly synthetic worlds in …

Embracing The Reggio Emilia Approach To Early Childhood Education, Tarabeth Brumfield Heineman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Each year, hundreds of early childhood educators from the many parts of the world travel to a small town in the northern part of Italy to study the arts-based, project focused, a child-initiated method known as the Reggio Emilia approach. This unique approach focuses on infant-toddler through preschool and primary education. While teachers are engaged in professional learning and growth, it is hard to determine how many early childhood programs and classrooms are truly influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach. The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the experiences of five teachers from West Virginia who have …

Outdoor Early Intervention Services: Current Practices And Future Directions, Tiffany Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Outdoor play is a crucial in supporting child development, resiliency, social skills, creative thinking, adaptability, family growth, and family engagement. Unfortunately, children are spending less time outside because of technology, parent fears, and other factors. Parents who have a child with a disability have even more challenges when it comes to playing outside. Thus, children with disabilities are spending even less time in outdoor environments. Early Intervention (EI) is a program that is designed for infants and toddlers between the ages of zero to three that have developmental delays and/or disabilities. EI uses a family-center approach in natural environments to …